ROBARDS, WILLIS L.

ROBARDS, WILLIS L. (?–1872). Willis L. Robards, public official, a native of North Carolina, was admitted to the bar in Mississippi before he moved to Texas in 1853. He practiced law in Austin until the outbreak of the Civil War. He had opposed secession, but he joined the Confederate Army in 1862, served as a major under Henry Hopkins Sibley, was wounded at the battle of Valverde, and later served on the staff of Gen. Thomas Green in the Louisiana campaign. Robards was elected comptroller of public accounts during the James W. Throckmorton administration in 1866 but was removed from office by order of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan in 1867. In the late 1860s Robards married Jennie Ochiltree. With his brother, C. L. Robards, he was reporter for the Texas Supreme Court. He died at his home in Austin on December 13, 1872.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Frank Brown, Annals of Travis County and the City of Austin (MS, Frank Brown Papers, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin). Dallas Weekly Herald, December 21, 28, 1872. Election Register, Texas State Archives, Austin.

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